Ghani Awarded ‘Ghazi Wazir Akbar Khan’ Medal to Outgoing U.S. Ambassador John Bass
Ariana: John Bass, the outgoing U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, received [the] ‘Ghazi Wazir Akbar Khan’ medal by President Ashraf Ghani for his services in the country, the presidential palace said in a statement. The presidential palace hosted the U.S. Ambassador’s farewell reception ceremony on Monday evening. Click here to read more (external link).
Stubbornness on Both Sides Jeopardizes Peace: High Peace Council
Tolo News: The intractable stance of both the Afghan government and the Taliban towards the peace process is perilous, the High Peace Council (HPC) said on Tuesday, warning that the war could prevail if the Afghan government and the Taliban do not come up with preconditions for the peace process, particularly on the issue of a ceasefire. This comes a day after the Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid rejected media reports that the ruling council of the group had agreed to a temporary ceasefire that would eventually open the way for signing a peace deal between the group and the United States. Click here to read more (external link).
Related
Inside the U.S. military’s raid against its own security guards that left dozens of Afghan children dead
File photo
USA Today: U.S. military officials publicly touted the August 22, 2008, Azizabad raid – Operation Commando Riot – as a victory. A high-value Taliban target had been killed; the collateral damage was minimal; the village was grateful.
None of it was true.
The Taliban commander escaped. Dozens of civilians were dead in the rubble, including as many as 60 children. The local population rioted.
It remains one of the deadliest civilian casualty events of the Afghan campaign. But the story of how the operation turned tragic has been largely hidden from the public.
1TV Afghanistan Dari News – December 30 , 2019
Air Pollution Kills 17 in Kabul in a Week: Ministry
Photo: Akmal Dawi/IRIN
Tolo News: Amid air quality reports ranking Kabul as one of the most polluted cities globally, the Ministry of Public Health claimed that at least 17 people have died of respiratory infections and related health conditions over the past week, all due, according to the ministry, to the polluted air in the city. Click here to read more (external link).
Related
Taliban Rules Out Afghan Cease-fire
Ayaz Gul
VOA News
December 30, 2019
The Taliban announced Monday it does not intend to stop fighting in Afghanistan, rejecting as “false and baseless” reports the insurgent group is ready to declare a temporary cease-fire in a bid to seal a peace deal with the United States.
The announcement comes on a day when Taliban insurgents killed at least 14 Afghan security forces in the latest of a series of deadly assaults over the past week.
Chief Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid noted in a statement that internal consultations at the leadership level are currently underway to consider a U.S. request for the insurgent group to reduce violence.
“The reality of the situation is that the Islamic Emirate (the Taliban) has no intention of declaring a cease-fire,” Mujahid said, refuting as “malicious enemy” propaganda media reports suggesting otherwise.
The denial came after Afghan and some foreign media outlets reported Sunday that at the end of an internal consultation process the Taliban’s ruling council agreed to cease hostilities for a week to further peace talks with the United States.
“The United States has asked for a reduction in the scale and intensity of violence and discussions being held by the Islamic Emirate are revolving solely around this specific issue,” Mujahid explained.
Fresh fighting
Meanwhile, Taliban insurgents have killed at least 14 Afghan forces in overnight clashes in northern Jowzjan province.
A provincial government spokesman, Abdul Marouf Azar, told VOA the casualties occurred in Faizabad district where insurgents staged a major pre-dawn assault on a security outpost.
The ensuing clashes also wounded five Afghan soldiers while two others went missing, he said. Azar added that seven Taliban assailants were killed in retaliatory fire.
A Taliban statement claimed its fighters seized a large number of weapons, ammunition and other military equipment.
The Afghan district is located on the main highway linking Jowzjan with the neighboring Balkh province, where the Taliban has also staged repeated deadly attacks on security forces in recent days.
The insurgents have carried out major attacks over the past week across Afghanistan, killing more than 60 government security forces and injuring many more.
For their part, Afghan security officials say retaliatory actions and counter-insurgency operations have also killed dozens of Taliban fighters.
Washington earlier this month paused a yearlong troubled peace dialogue with the Taliban, demanding a reduction in insurgent violence before the process between the two adversaries is taken further.
The Taliban, however, wants to seal a peace agreement with the United States on the complete withdrawal of U.S. and NATO-led coalition forces from the country before entering into negotiations with Afghan stakeholders to discuss a permanent settlement to the 18-year-old war, America’s longest.
But the Trump administration has said a troop drawdown process would be “conditions-based”, meaning progress in Taliban-Afghan peace talks would determine the troop reduction pace.
There are currently more than 12,000 American troops stationed in Afghanistan. NATO allies have about 8,000 forces.
Related
9 Billion Afghanis To Be Transferred To Ministry Of Finance Against Law
Ariana: This is the third time that the ministry of finance will transfer at least nine billion Afghanis to its treasury which is against the law, said officials in the lower house. “The treasury of the ministry of finance is empty, and that’s why employees haven’t received their salaries,” said Ramazan Bashardust, member of the lower house. Click here to read more (external link).
Iran, Afghanistan to link up through railway in March: Official
Press TV
December 29, 2019
A senior Iranian official says a major railway connecting Iran and neighboring Afghanistan will be ready in March as construction of a key cross-border line is nearing completion.
Abbas Khatibi, a deputy to Iran’s transportation minister, said on Saturday that the Iran would link up Afghanistan to its railway once construction for the line connecting the city of Khaf in eastern Iran to the Afghan city of Herat is finished.
Khatibi said a major part of 191-kilometer railway would be complete in March or at last in April, 2019, allowing the two neighboring countries to kick off rail transportation.
Iran has almost finished its part of the Khaf-Herat railway, which runs 139 kilometers in three sections straddling the border between the two countries. Reports in the Afghan media have suggested that the country is intent on completing the fourth and final section of the project through partnership with an Italian contractor.
Once finished, the railway would hugely boost trade between Iran and Afghanistan, a country which has no active railway system, while it would help the Afghans to use various transportation corridors via Iran to expand business with other countries.
Lack of security in Afghanistan has been a major hurdle for completion of the railway. A mine explosion earlier this year on the Afghan side of the project killed one Iranian contractor and injured his colleague.
Iran has implemented massive plans for expansion of its domestic railway network while it has pursued plans for linking up to neighboring countries to facilitate trade.
Afghanistan is expected to hugely benefit from development of the Iranian rail network, especially through a key link connecting the port city of Chabahar on the Sea of Oman to Zahedan, near the Afghan border.
The massive project, which is jointly built by Iran and India, is meant to facilitate trade from the Indian Ocean via Iran to Afghanistan and further north to the Central Asian countries.
Taliban Council Agrees to Nationwide Ceasefire: AP
Taliban militants (file photo)
Tolo News: The Associated Press on Sunday evening quoted anonymous sources within the Taliban saying that the ruling council of the group – in Pakistan – has agreed to a temporary ceasefire nationwide. The ceasefire, according to the report, will open a way for a peace agreement between the United States and the Taliban. The agreement has been finalized as a draft after 10 rounds of talks between the two sides. Click here to read more (external link).